Power-machine.



To all whom it 'may concern."

PHILIP FRANCIS ODDlE, OF WIMBLEDON, ,NEAR LONDON, ENGLAND.

PowER-MAHINE.

Specification of LettersPatent. l

Patented July- 23, v1907.

. applicati@ fied nay 7, 1907. semina. 372,414.

Be it k`nown that I, PHILIP FRANCIS ODDIE, engineer, a subject of theKingV of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Wimbledon, nearLondon, England, have invented new and useful Improvements inPower-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The following invention relates to a new arrangevment for thedevelopment of power` by means of a combination of a reciprocatingmachine or machines with turbines in which the steam passes firstthrough three or more cylinders of the reciprocating machine beforebeing used in the turbine. The cylinders of vthe reciprocating machineare approximately of the same size but arranged in a convenient mannerso that vit is possible that the steam shall pass through all cylinderseither paralleler in series; that is to say that the cylinders can workeither all as high pressure cylinders or two as high pressure cylindersand the rest as middle pressure cylinders and the turbine as lowpressure cylinder. It is well known that high pressure steam can be moreeconomically used in the reciproeating engines than in turbines. On theother hand the turbine works moreeconomically with low pressure steamthan the reciprocating engines. By this invention it is possible to varythe power and speed within very large limits without throttling thesteam while `the volume and pressure of the same passing to the turbinewill always be l'approximately.. suited vto thev power and speedrequired to be developed by the same. Hitherto where steam is firstallowed to pass through` an-ordinary compound engine, this distributionof the steam was not possible, since the capacity of the high pressurecylinder remained' constant and consequently by reduced powers the`steam hadto be throttled and the turbine run altogether or partly,

empty. By this new arrangement it is possible in every caseto run thecombination of the reciprocating engines and turbines with the highesteeiency. vThis is particularly important when thel arrangement is usedon cruisers'or torpedoboat destroyers; forl example a will develop say8000 horse power. Such speeds, however, are only required by about 10%of the time that torpedoboat destroyerrunning 'at 28 knots per hour'Iii-Figurel the diagram lineashows an indicated( horsepower of 8000 allcylinders working ashigh pressure cylinders and allowing the exhaust topass at a comparatively high pressure into the turbine. y is a diagramshowing an indicated horse power of 300 in which the boiler pressuresteam is only allowed to enter to the lirst cylinder'in eachreciprocating Inachine the other cylinders receiving the exhaust tromthe lirst cylinder. These.: cylinders working as'middle pressurecylinders further expand the steam, while the turbine receiving thesteam from these two 'cylinders actsas a low pressure cylinder andexpands the steam to the pressure of the condenser. It will be seen fromthis that not only for` the development of S000 horse power but also forthe development of the smallest power namely 300 horse power the fullboilerl pressure is used. At,both these powers the reciproeating machineas well as the turbine is used, and neither in one`or the other case isthe turbine or the reciprocating machine disconnected. l

Fig. '2 shows 'in plane the arrangement of the invenytion for a triplescrew machine. a is the center shaft,

b one of the side shafts. A is the turbine, B is one of y thereciprocating machines and AB/l the other. Each reciprocate machinepossesses 3 cylinders ot' approximately equal diameter. C and C/I arecondensers. Each reciprocating engine drives a shaft b, b/l, re`-spectively, while the turbine drives the middle shaft a. Theseshaitsworking all independently of another. Steam enters by the pipe land passes the valves m m/l of the cylinders 1l II/l. At cruising speedsthe exhaust from the high pressure cylinders d .I/l by means of the pipeh h/l passes into the middle pressure cylinders e e/l, f f /l, while theexhaust from these middle pressure cylinders passes into a common pipe gand into the turbine A. From the turbine A it vpasses in the usual wayinto the condensers C (1/l. c k/l are valves which allows fresh steamfrom the admission pipe l to pass into the cylinders e e/l and f f /1,while at the same time allowingthe exhaust from the cylinders fl fl/l topass directly into the commonY pipe y. For full powers fresh highpressure steam is let into all the cylinders with the comparatively longadmission. The steam passes through all the cylin-v ders parallel andthen exhausting into the common pipe g directly into the turbine A. Iiit is required to reduce the speed one can give less admission to allthe cylinders. The exhaust pressure from the cylinders will be thenlower, and the initial commencing pressure of the turbine will also belower, the speed of the ship, however, will be reduced so that the speedof the turbine will suit the reduced pressure oi the steam. Bymaneuvering one can cut out the turbines altogether using only thereciprocating engines and allowing the steam from theses to passdirectly into the condenser. In reversing one can either usercciprocating engines alone all as high pressure cylinders or iiiseriesas high pressure and low pressure, or by the introduction of thereversing turbine one can work in the same way as in going ahead,letting the steam pass throughthe reciprocating cylinders either inscries or parallel and exhausting into the reversing tur bine.

Having now particularly'described and ascertained the nature of the saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare thatwhat claim is:.- v v V1 1. A powermaehine. consisting of a combinationof reciprocating engines consisting of `three or more cylinders,allv'approximately o the same diameter, vixrwhich -the steam can passthrough either all cylinders working parallel :xndthen exhaust at acomparatively high pressure into the 'turbine or turbines to finish itsexpansion, or in which the steam can pass through the reciprocatingengines in series working as compound, and then exhaust at acomparatively 10W pressure into the turbine and there finish itsexpansion substantially ras described.

2. A power machine, consisting of a combination of reciprocating`engines and turbines, the reciprocating engines consisting of three ormore cylinders,'all approxi- -mately of the same diameter, in whichthesteam can pass through either all cylinders working parallel and thenexhaust at a comparatively highpressure into theA turbine or turbines tofinish its expansion, or in which the steam can pass through thereciprocating engines in series working as compound, and thenexhaust ata coinparatively low pressure into the turbine and there finish itsexpansion the turbine acting on a main shaft arranged between the shaftsof two reciprocating engines', substantially as described.A f

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing asmy invention, I have signedmy name in presence of two witnesses,

